Las Vegas Shooter’s Laptop Missing Its Hard Drive

[RoosGirl]

What would be the point of him ditching the hard drive? 

[Frank Cannon]

I think Ellen DeGeneres now has the hard drive. It was given to her by John McCain after Raphael Cruz snuck into Paddock’s room and stole it as Paddock took a knee while Frederica Wilson wearing nothing but a sequenced pink cowboy hat distracted him by singing the National Anthem then shooting him with Lee Harvey Oswald’s gun because the hard drive evidently had a picture of George Bush Senior grabbing Harvey Weinstein’s ass.

 

I thought you were pulling my leg, but I have found further confirmation of this theory.

[Mom MD]

Getting rid of all his recent activity, searches and saved data before someone could find it.

[Frank Cannon]

What would be the point of him ditching the hard drive?

I don't think he had a hard drive. He was 64 and had a prescription for Viagra.

[Mom MD]

I thought you were pulling my leg, but I have found further confirmation of this theory.

Dan Brown found it in an ancient monastery after it was transported back in time by the aliens that stole it from Ellen.  Try to keep up.

[roamer_1]

Problem:
The laptop was presumably operational in order to transmit whatever was being transmitted via camera to whatever overseas destination... unless that initial part of the official statement as been debunked.

That would necessitate the OS, being onboard a hdd or other boot mechanism (I would opt for thumb over cd btw) being in the room, unless it was pitched out the window post-action and pre-suicide.

[RoosGirl]

I don't think he had a hard drive. He was 64 and had a prescription for Viagra.

Soooo common these days.

[RoosGirl]

Getting rid of all his recent activity, searches and saved data before someone could find it.

Yes, but for what purpose?  To hide what?  That he mowed down a bunch of people with some of his rifles from a hotel room?

[Mom MD]

To hide or protect whoever was bankrolling him would be my guess.

[RoosGirl]

To hide or protect whoever was bankrolling him would be my guess.

There we go, that's what I was going for.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Problem:
The laptop was presumably operational in order to transmit whatever was being transmitted via camera to whatever overseas destination... unless that initial part of the official statement as been debunked.

That would necessitate the OS, being onboard a hdd or other boot mechanism (I would opt for thumb over cd btw) being in the room, unless it was pitched out the window post-action and pre-suicide.

What if you had a good amount of memory, and read all of the OS files (so that they would be in memory in filesystem buffers so the OS wouldn't need to access the disks)?  Maybe turn off/down event logging so there was no reason to write to disk.  Not sure about windows/mac, but this would almost certainly work under linux.

What would definitely work (in linux) would be to make a RAM based filesystem, copy the OS to it, and use the chroot command to run the app(s) and "OS" directly from RAM (as long as you have enough not to swap).

Again, I'm not saying he did (or didn't) do any of this, just pointing out that there are ways to have a running laptop with no HDD (or other boot media) in the room.  If I were to guess, I'd go with boot off one of those tiny little USB drives about the size of a receiver for a wireless mouse, and then flick it out the window (or flush?) at the last minute.

[roamer_1]

Again, I'm not saying he did (or didn't) do any of this, just pointing out that there are ways to have a running laptop with no HDD (or other boot media) in the room.  If I were to guess, I'd go with boot off one of those tiny little USB drives about the size of a receiver for a wireless mouse, and then flick it out the window (or flush?) at the last minute.

As it turns out, I am exactly the guy to talk to... I specialize in making miniaturized win systems, either for portable or embedded instances...  While you and I both know what is possible, I doubt your average luser could reasonably be expected to understand those intricacies... Just getting guaranteed wireless drivers hacked into a miniwin is a chore that would cause most folks to tip over in apoplexy. Now, maybe the shooter was not only a real estate dude, a whale gambler, AND a pooter guru - But I think that a huge stretch. Could be, but I doubt it.

But yeah - a mini thumb w/ knoppix or even a full load of mint would be doable, and easily destroyed... pull it out, whack it with a pistol butt, and flush it away...

Feasible, but unlikely.

[Smokin Joe]

As it turns out, I am exactly the guy to talk to... I specialize in making miniaturized win systems, either for portable or embedded instances...  While you and I both know what is possible, I doubt your average luser could reasonably be expected to understand those intricacies... Just getting guaranteed wireless drivers hacked into a miniwin is a chore that would cause most folks to tip over in apoplexy. Now, maybe the shooter was not only a real estate dude, a whale gambler, AND a pooter guru - But I think that a huge stretch. Could be, but I doubt it.

But yeah - a mini thumb w/ knoppix or even a full load of mint would be doable, and easily destroyed... pull it out, whack it with a pistol butt, and flush it away...

Feasible, but unlikely.

Seems like that would be a whole lot of trouble for just some lone nutcase to go to.
But it makes a lot more sense if there are others involved.

[Suppressed]

Yes, but for what purpose?  To hide what?  That he mowed down a bunch of people with some of his rifles from a hotel room?

Perhaps he was into the same stuff that his brother got nabbed for.

[austingirl]

I posted this yesterday and it was ignored. The FBI has not ruled out that he was working alone.

http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,287697.0.html

[austingirl]

I posted this yesterday and it was ignored. The FBI has not ruled out that he was working alone.

http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,287697.0.html

Gun purchases, the surveillance system the gunman used and evidence gathered at the shooting site would be examined “to make sure another gun wasn’t used, another shooter wasn’t involved,” and determine whether someone else did not help him build the electronic gear.

“Did he buy it, could he build it himself?” Ridenour said of questions investigators would ask.

[Sanguine]

I posted this yesterday and it was ignored. The FBI has not ruled out that he was working alone.

http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,287697.0.html

Thanks, @austingirl.

[Free Vulcan]

Seems like that would be a whole lot of trouble for just some lone nutcase to go to.
But it makes a lot more sense if there are others involved.

That's exactly it. He had the smarts, patience and determination to pull this off IMO.

Yet little details keep popping up like this that make me question this being the work of a sole person, because a lone nutcase who intended to off himself in the end wouldn't do such things.

[NavyCanDo]

I'm not one to fall for all of the nutty conspiracy theories but this is now getting just too weird.  He seems to have taken unusual steps to cover his tracks which may include possible connections to co-conspirators and to keep his motive completly unknown.     Maybe, maybe not, but its getting harder and harder to conclude anything else but.

[Fishrrman]

Maybe Paddock was just paranoid, and by removing and disposing of the hard drive, he imagined that he would be "cleaning up after himself" (for lack of a better term). See the short story by Ray Bradbury entitled "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fruit_at_the_Bottom_of_the_Bowl

He was in the room four days or more, right? He could have removed the drive and tossed it into the hotel trash the same day of the shooting. Perhaps he had an alternate way of booting the laptop. I know nothing of the trials and tribulations of Windows users, but booting a Mac from an external source -- hard drive, USB flashdrive, SD card, etc. -- is a trivial matter. Nuthin' to it.

[edpc]

I'm not one to fall for all of the nutty conspiracy theories but this is now getting just too weird.  He seems to have taken unusual steps to cover his tracks which may include possible connections to co-conspirators and to keep his motive completly unknown.     Maybe, maybe not, but its getting harder and harder to conclude anything else but.

Previous mass shooters have also destroyed electronic devices to cover their tracks.  I'm sure Paddock was aware of this.  However, the others usually did this is locations far from the actual scene.  What's really driving the conspiracies and lack of confidence in the investigation is the confusing and contradictory information officials have released.  Add in the fact the FBI has become incredibly politicized and you're asking for rampant mistrust.

[roamer_1]

Maybe Paddock was just paranoid, and by removing and disposing of the hard drive, he imagined that he would be "cleaning up after himself" (for lack of a better term). See the short story by Ray Bradbury entitled "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fruit_at_the_Bottom_of_the_Bowl

He was in the room four days or more, right? He could have removed the drive and tossed it into the hotel trash the same day of the shooting. Perhaps he had an alternate way of booting the laptop. I know nothing of the trials and tribulations of Windows users, but booting a Mac from an external source -- hard drive, USB flashdrive, SD card, etc. -- is a trivial matter. Nuthin' to it.

Nope. If it is true that he was using the cameras as stated, that requires a wireless (or wired) hub, and it requires a computer to collect the data on, either to display or to transmit abroad (as the original story told)... Something was jamming the deal, and if there was only one laptop, that's probably it, which means it was operational till after the shooting.

They had 'eyes on' from the time he was discovered (before the shooting) till after the fact, and he did not exit the room... So if the hdd is discarded, it would be in the local trash (which they would have collected into evidence as a matter of course), or it went down the drain (which would necessitate a usb or cd boot, shattered and flushed), or it went out the window. Not any other options.

And it is not hard to alternatively boot windows. But it is hard to alternatively boot windows as a mini and run software that connects to the camera, and the networking (VPN tunnel through an onion) to send an encrypted and diffused data stream.

Either that thumb would be custom built by a better than average geek, or he knew how himself (either that way, or proficient enough with linux to do the same), or it was a hard drive, with normally loaded and operated software. There aren't any other options, providing they got the story straight.

[roamer_1]

Previous mass shooters have also destroyed electronic devices to cover their tracks. 

That implies getting away with it. He ate a bullet. Why would it matter at that point?

[edpc]

That implies getting away with it. He ate a bullet. Why would it matter at that point?

Don’t know, but the three mentioned in the article - Steven Kazmierczak, Adam Lanza, and Cho Seung Hui - also died of self-inflicted gunshots.

[Smokin Joe]

That implies getting away with it. He ate a bullet. Why would it matter at that point?

Maybe. Let me toss this out as a possible scenario. GF or her family member kidnapped by Abu Sayef in PI, demands shooting event in addition to cash for ransom and requires proof. He has to destroy evidence of that connection (cover that track to PI). Failure to do so will result in execution of hostage(s). To cover tracks he pulls thumb drive, tosses it out the window and suicides after shooting.
That would assume he acted alone. There is a lot here that would make more sense if he did not.

I know, bad thriller novel material, but one possible scenario.
Quick question, If he had streamed video would there still have been temporary files on his computer unless he disposed of the HDD?